The present invention relates to the killing of organisms belong to the class acarina, which includes mites and ticks.
Acarids are a serious problem in agriculture and horticulture. These organisms are widely distributed throughout the world and in the United States they are known to attack a wide variety of horticultural and agricultural plants, as well as poultry and livestock.
The bis(trialkyltin)oxides are known to be toxic to insects, acarids, bacteria and other pest organisms. The species of bis(trialkyltin)oxide given widest mention in the literature with respect to pesticidal use is bis(tri-n-butyltin)oxide (TBTO), since this species has apparently been determined to be about optimum with respect to pesticidal activity. TBTO, however, while being an excellent pesticide, has not found wide use in combating pests on agricultural crops, ornamentals or other beneficial plants because it is highly phytotoxic to plants. U.S. Pat. No. 3,264,177 issued to Kenaga on Aug. 2, 1966, discloses that various compounds containing specifically a tricyclohexyltin group, including bis(tricyclohexyltin)oxide, are useful in killing arachnids on plants. Bis(triphenyltin)oxide is described as a fungicide useful on plants in U.S. Pat. No. 3,248,283 issued to Luijten on Apr. 20, 1966.
The adducts of bis(trialkyltin)oxides and compounds such as CO.sub.2, CS.sub.2, and SO.sub.2 are described in the literature as being useful in fungicidal preparations.